Penfield man’s movie is up for state Emmy

Jessica Gaspar

Thursday

Mar 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMMar 27, 2008 at 9:18 PM

Anthony Machi wrote, directed and produced a one-hour film on sculptor Albert Paley last year. His film is up for two New York Emmys in the arts and cultural and the independent photographer categories.

It started on a hunch.

After Anthony Machi wrote, directed and produced the documentary “Albert Paley: In Search of the Sentinel,” his cameraman encouraged Machi to enter the piece for a CINE Golden Eagle award.

Well, his hunch proved to be true. Machi and his cameraman, Steve DelMonte, won the honor last spring.

“Steve said to me, ‘Oh my, now that we won the Golden Eagle ... we should definitely enter it for the Emmy,’” Machi said.

And although Machi isn’t an award hound, he decided to enter the film in the New York Emmy Awards contest. His film is up for two Emmys in the arts and cultural and the independent photographer categories.

In this round, Emmy judges evaluate work from filmmakers across New York, unlike the national Emmy award competition, which sees films from across the country.

“In the case of both CINE and the state Emmy competitions, the program you enter is judged on its own merits, and it’s judged by a panel of your own peers, so to win in that sense, to me, is an honor,” Machi said.

This is the first film Machi has produced in high-definition.

The documentary on Paley, a modernist American metal sculptor who teaches at the Rochester Institute of Technology, has been shown several times locally. It also has aired across the country through WXXI and PBS, said Elissa Orlando, the vice president of television for WXXI.

“Tony is really a producer of the highest quality,” she said. “I think the New York Emmys are really about the highest quality that broadcasters, especially in New York state, produce.”

Machi will attend a gala on April 6 with his wife and partner, Kate. That night, he’ll know whether he won. Though Machi is trying not to get his hopes up about bringing home an Emmy, he said it would be a greater affirmation of his skills.

“The Emmy is really the icing on the cake for me,” he said.

“The reason that I keep doing and have done it for so long is the work just keeps getting better and that is the biggest thrill of all,” Machi said.

Penfield Post writer Jessica Gaspar can be reached at (585) 394-0770, Ext. 323, or at jgaspar@mpnewspapers.com.

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